


Between My Heart and the Sea

by meowvelous



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 21:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowvelous/pseuds/meowvelous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lea visits Destiny Island, but of course something is missing. [Speculative post-Dream Drop Distance fic]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between My Heart and the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Uh I guess this is technically spoilers for Dream, Drop, Distance? To be honest, my knowledge of canon ends with KH2, so this might not be technically canon compliant. Mainly, this was written after I found out Lea is still kicking around, but Naminé and Roxas aren't, and fueled by the subsequent heart break.
> 
> K/R/S is fairly light but I tagged it just in case? This is my first time posting anything here, so hopefully I didn't screw anything up too badly.

It is quiet now, just Lea and the sea.  
  
Earlier, Sora had shown him around the mainland, and around the play island. Lea had been quiet then too, oddly so, just watching. Well, when Kairi had run up to greet them, taking an instinctive step back when she saw him, he had smirked and assured her that, this time princess, he wasn’t after her.  
  
After that, Kairi stayed around and followed after them, mainly to keep an eye on him. Riku flanked Sora’s other side, forming a trio, and Lea tried not to feel bitter about how alone he was.  
  
At first, Sora had been wary of Lea too; remembering Castle Oblivion, and the other times after. But something of Roxas must have gotten through, or maybe it was just the boy’s easy going nature, the one that made him friends and comrades across the multi-verse, because soon it disappeared into an affable smile as Sora showed Lea his house, and the cave where the door had been opened so long ago.  
  
For such a small area, the tour took a surprisingly long time. When they got back to the mainland, it was to see the boats coming back with the day’s catch, and white collar workers riding the tram in from the city. Though they were older now, the Destiny trio had to go home for dinner.  
  
Sora had invited Lea along, who refused. Instead, not really paying much attention, he got something from a stall about to close up for the day, and had taken it with him back to the shore. Once he was done eating, Lea sat there, on the sand. Far enough that the water wasn’t at his feet, but near enough.  
  
The sun starts to set, across the sea, casting the sky and water in brilliant shades of orange and yellow and red. As Lea watches, squinting against the glare, he thinks about how many times the three of them sat on the clock tower, watching the perpetually setting sun of Twilight Town.  
  
As the sun sinks further, sliding towards dusk, Lea suddenly isn’t alone anymore. He looks over, and Roxas stares back.  
  
Neither of them speaks, at first; with a shaking hand, Roxas reaches out and draws a finger down Lea’s cheek, where the marks once were. “Axel,” he asks, voice oddly hoarse, as he pulls his hand back. “Where did they go?” Of course Roxas means, _where did you go_ , but Lea is still a bit of an asshole, so he grins lazily, provokingly.  
  
“Guess they were left behind, once I got through to the other side. Name’s Lea, now. Only seems right I went back to it, after.” He cocks his head, eyes piercing as ever. “Are you really here? Thought Sora had you locked up, nice and tight.”  
  
Roxas shrugs; he’s wearing the same outfit from the virtual Twilight Town, and Lea watches how the fabric shifts with his movement. It’s similar to how Sora moves, horribly so, and Lea wonders how much of a line there is, between the Nobody and Somebody. He feels both the lives he’s lived, but Sora…  
  
“He had a long day, space travel drains him, so he went to bed early. When he sleeps, it’s enough for me to slip out.” Roxas draws his knees to his chest, rests his cheek against them, which is more familiar, more of the Roxas that Axel knew. “Sometimes, I see Naminé. We go out to the island, and talk. I see less of her, now that Kairi’s taken up art.” His voice is bitter, like the sting of the salt air across Lea’s lips. “What about you, who am I talking to?” Roxas turns his head, and its Sora’s eyes staring him down.  
  
Because fair is fair, Lea shrugs as well and leans back on his hands. The sand is slightly cool against his palms, gritty compared to the smooth leather of the gloves all members of the Organization wore. “A person. They got me pretty young, so half my life was as Lea, and the other half was as Axel. It wasn’t much of a transition, just memories, and…” His heart beats against his chest, and Lea remembers how heavy it was when he first woke up. Self-consciously, he lifts a hand and brushes across it.  
  
Still staring, those eyes track the movement before flickering up to Lea’s face. “So you do have one now.” It’s Roxas’ turn to quirk his mouth up, in an imitation of a smile. “Guess you don’t need me anymore.” Before Lea can protest, he continues, “I heard you, you know. When you died.” Maybe Roxas shares Sora’s heart now, because there’s pain written across his face as his eyes close. “I was still close enough to the surface to see.”  
  
The wind blows again, and Axel’s last words echo between them; _he made me feel like I had a heart_ , followed by a heavy silence.  
  
“I was hoping you would,” now Lea leans forward, elbows sitting on his knees. “Wasn’t sure how much of you there was in there.” He isn’t sure how much there is of Roxas now; he wants to reach out, so badly that his hand aches with it, but there’s a lingering dread that he would just touch thin air.  
  
“He took everything, all my memories,” the cold emptiness of the World that Never Was, Xion’s smile, the taste of sea salt ice cream, Axel’s hands moving down his body, “and he forgot it. Nobodies need somebodies, but a somebody has no use for their nobody.” Now Roxas just sounds tired, made faint by the loss.  
  
“I remember,” Lea says, and those eyes fly open, wide and unblinking as they stare at him. “All of it.”  
  
A broken noise falls out from Roxas’ lips, and then he’s moving, lunging forward. Lea honestly isn’t sure if he’s about to get a keyblade shoved through him, but they’ve always been sharp edges and violence, so he just braces himself for the impact he hopes is coming.  
  
And it happens; Roxas’ body is wonderfully solid against his, pushing him down into the sand. Lea looks up at Roxas, watches how his lips move without anything coming out, until he just pushes forward. Their lips meet, with the taste of salt.  
  
Lea brings his hand up, resting it against the back of Roxas’ neck, and Roxas shudders. A tear falls, and then another, from Sora’s eyes to trail down Lea’s cheeks. When Roxas pulls back, he’s still trying to speak, but can’t, so instead Lea sits both of them up, still holding Roxas close.  
  
They’ve sat like this together, a million times, in what feels like a million years ago. Axel’s pointy chin pressing down against Roxas’ stupid spiky hair. The voice is the same, speaking assurances, nonsense, into Roxas’ ear. Except now it’s Lea’s heart, beating against Roxas’ empty chest.  
  
Finally Roxas calms, and just sits there; cradled around Lea’s body, with the foreign sound-feel of a heartbeat where he has his ear pressed to the chest in front of him.  
  
As the moon rises, Lea slips back down, Roxas following after him. They lie there together, against the cool sand, still far enough that the waves can’t reach them. Lea stares up at the stars, and feels the shift of Roxas’ back beneath his hands. He drifts off, lured by the sound of the sea, and of Roxas breathing.  
  
  
When he wakes up in the morning, the sun is achingly bright, except for the cool shadow falling across him. Lea’s arms are empty, but when he opens his eyes, he looks up at blue eyes and a familiar voice, asking if Lea wants to go get ice cream.


End file.
